Charisma Records

Charisma Records
Charisma Records
Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1969; 56 years ago
Founder	Tony Stratton Smith
Defunct	1986
Distributor(s)	EMI Records (United Kingdom); Capitol Music Group (United States)
Genre	Progressive rock, comedy
Country of origin	England

Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton Smith.^[1] He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator. Gail Colson was label manager and joint managing director.^[1]

The label's most successful acts were Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Julian Lennon, and Monty Python.^[1] The first release was an LP by Rare Bird, in (probably) November 1969, and this group gave Charisma its first hit single, Sympathy, in early 1970. (Sympathy was a reworking of Giazotto's 'reconstruction' of Albinoni's Adagio.)

Charisma's first UK label was a distinctive magenta scroll design (though it is generally referred to in record collecting circles as "pink scroll") – magenta was the colour that Stratton Smith chose to represent the label, and this was reflected in his later horseracing colours, red for Manchester United, green for Brazil, and magenta for Charisma.^[2] Its second logo (used beginning in 1972) of Sir John Tenniel's drawing of the Mad Hatter (sometimes combined with a montage of other images from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) made the label instantly recognizable. Much of the early distinctive artwork used by the label was created by Paul Whitehead. Whitehead's original illustrations for three Genesis albums were stolen from the Charisma archives when it was sold to Virgin Records in 1983. Whitehead claimed that Charisma staff got wind of the imminent sale and proceeded to loot its office.^[3]

The label also released material by The Nice, Robert John Godfrey, Lindisfarne and Alan Hull, Hawkwind, The Alan Parsons Project, Clifford T. Ward, String Driven Thing, Jack The Lad, Audience, Vivian Stanshall, Brand X, Sir John Betjeman, Malcolm McLaren and Afraid of Mice.^[1] 1970s solo albums of Peter Hammill, Tony Banks and Steve Hackett were also on Charisma.

Gail Colson left Charisma in the late 1970s to form her own management company, Gailforce.

In 1983, Charisma Records was acquired by Virgin Records and continued to operate until 1986, when Virgin absorbed the label.^[1] Virgin's purchase by EMI, then known as Thorn EMI, occurred in 1992. A new version of Charisma, with no connection to the original label other than the name, operated between 1990 and 1992, with a street-oriented and independently distributed subsidiary called Cardiac Records. Some Charisma Records recordings were re-issued on the EMI label. In the UK, the label was revived by EMI's Angel Records in 2007.

With most of EMI's purchase by Universal Music Group, Charisma returned to Virgin Records.

Distribution

Charisma was initially manufactured and distributed in the United Kingdom via a licensing deal with Lee Gopthal's B&C Records, sharing the B&C catalogue series for both singles and albums, prior to B&C ceasing to release records on the B&C label, when it concentrated on marketing instead. In early 1972, B&C brokered a deal with Precision Tapes to manufacture and distribute Charisma's albums in tape format. From early 1970, Charisma's European distribution was handled by Phonogram Inc.

In the United States and Canada, Charisma recordings were initially licensed to other labels. These included ABC Records, along with subsidiaries, Impulse, Probe and Dunhill. Artists included Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis. Elektra Records in the US released records by Charisma artists Atomic Rooster, Audience, Lindisfarne and Jack the Lad.

In 1971, Charisma entered into a distribution agreement with Buddah Records and began to release albums on the Charisma label in the US. These included Pawn Hearts by Van der Graaf Generator and Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Genesis Live by Genesis. Atlantic Records also later released Charisma recordings in the United States from 1973 to 1974 including many Genesis titles.

In 1973, Atlantic stopped distributing Charisma in America; as a result, in the US Charisma's bands signed to various labels such as Mercury Records (Van der Graaf Generator) and Arista Records (Monty Python). Genesis records were released in the US under Atlantic's subsidiary label Atco Records from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, Charisma signed a new distribution deal in the UK with Polydor that lasted until 1980. In Canada, many Charisma releases were distributed by GRT and PolyGram Canada.^[4]

Between 1980 and 1982, Charisma operated a subsidiary called Pre Records, who were devoted to new wave and reggae acts. Pre's roster included Scars, Prince Far I, Delta 5, Gregory Isaacs, The Monochrome Set and Congo Ashanti Roy, amongst others. Pre also licensed albums by The Residents and Tuxedomoon from the American label Ralph Records. In Europe, Pre's releases were issued on the Charisma label.^[5]^[6]

Collectable "pink scroll" label design

Most Charisma artists were relatively unknown early on, so original pressings have become quite rare and sought after by collectors. The "pink scroll" label was first used in the UK from 1969 until mid-1972.^[7] This was replaced by the Mad Hatter label, designed by Paul Whitehead. In the US, the pink scroll labels were used in late 1973 and early 1974 on releases distributed by Buddah.^[7] Releases distributed by Atlantic Records used a variation of the Mad Hatter design.

Notable releases

Albums

Year	Artist	Album	Charts	Certifications
1970	The Nice	Five Bridges	UK #2
1970	Lindisfarne	Nicely Out of Tune	UK #8
1971	The Nice	Elegy	UK #5
1971	Lindisfarne	Fog on the Tyne	UK #1
1971	Genesis	Nursery Cryme	UK #39	FRA: Gold
1972	Lindisfarne	Dingly Dell	UK #5
1972	Bo Hansson	Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings	UK #34, US #154	AUS, UK: Gold
1972	Genesis	Foxtrot	UK #12	FRA, UK: Gold
1973	Genesis	Genesis Live	UK #9
1973	Lindisfarne	Lindisfarne Live	UK #25
1973	Clifford T. Ward	Home Thoughts	UK #40
1973	Alan Hull	Pipedream	UK #29
1973	Genesis	Selling England by the Pound	UK #3	FRA, UK, US: Gold
1974	Genesis	The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway	UK #10	FRA, UK, US: Gold
1975	Steve Hackett	Voyage of the Acolyte	UK #26	UK: Silver
1976	Genesis	A Trick of the Tail	UK #3, NLD #7, US #31	FRA, UK, US: Gold
1976	The Alan Parsons Project	Tales of Mystery and Imagination	US #38	GER: Gold
1976	Hawkwind	Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music	UK #33
1976	Genesis	Wind & Wuthering	UK #7, US #26	FRA, UK, US: Gold
1977	Peter Gabriel	Peter Gabriel	FRA #5, NOR #5, UK #7, SWE #8, GER #9, ITA #9, NLD #9, US #38	FRA, GER, UK: Gold
1977	Brand X	Moroccan Roll	UK #37
1977	Hawkwind	Quark, Strangeness and Charm	UK #30
1977	Genesis	Seconds Out	UK #4
1978	Genesis	...And Then There Were Three...	GER #2, UK #3, NOR #7, NLD #8, US #14	US: Platinum, FRA, GER, UK: Gold
1978	Steve Hackett	Please Don't Touch	UK #38
1978	Peter Gabriel	Peter Gabriel	FRA #2, UK #10
1979	Tony Banks	A Curious Feeling	UK #21
1979	Steve Hackett	Spectral Mornings	UK #22
1980	Genesis	Duke	UK #1, GER #2, FRA #4, NOR #4, SWE #9, US #11	UK, US: Platinum, FRA: Gold
1980	Peter Gabriel	Peter Gabriel	FRA #1, UK #1, NOR #5, CAN #7, SWE #8, US #22	CAN: 2× Platinum, FRA, UK, US: Gold
1980	Steve Hackett	Defector	UK #9
1980	The Residents	The Commercial Album
1981	Steve Hackett	Cured	UK #15
1981	Genesis	Abacab	UK #1, NOR #4, GER #6, NLD #6, US #7	US: 2× Platinum, FRA, GER, UK: Gold
1982	Genesis	Three Sides Live	UK #2, NLD #6, US #10	US: Gold
1982	Peter Gabriel	Peter Gabriel	CAN #2, FRA #5, UK #6, SWE #10, US #28	CAN: Platinum, UK, US: Gold
1983	Malcolm McLaren	Duck Rock²	UK #18	UK: Silver
1983	Steve Hackett	Highly Strung	UK #16
1983	Peter Gabriel	Plays Live	UK #8
1983	Genesis	Genesis¹	GER #1, UK #1, AUT #2, NLD #2, NOR #2, SWI #2, FRA #5	UK: 2× Platinum, FRA, GER: Platinum
1984	Julian Lennon	Valotte	AUS #8, US #17, UK #20	US: Platinum, UK: Silver
1986	Peter Gabriel	So³	CAN #1, NLD #1, NOR #1, NZ #1, UK #1, GER #2, SWE #2, US #2	US: 5× Platinum, UK: 3× Platinum, GER, NLD: Platinum, FRA: Gold
1986	Genesis	Invisible Touch¹	UK #1, GER #2, NLD #2, NOR #3, SWE #4, SWI #4, AUT #5, FRA #8	UK: 4× Platinum, FRA, GER: Platinum
1986	The World's Famous Supreme Team	Rappin'

1: On Virgin Records in Australia, Atlantic Records in the US
2: On Island Records in the US
3: On Geffen Records in the US

live album

Singles

Year	Artist	Single	Charts
1971	Lindisfarne	"Lady Eleanor"	UK #3
1971	Lindisfarne	"Meet Me on the Corner"	UK #5
1973	Clifford T. Ward	"Gaye"	UK #8
1974	Genesis	"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"	UK #21
1977	Peter Gabriel	"Solsbury Hill"	UK #13
1977	Genesis	Spot the Pigeon	UK #14
1978	Genesis	"Follow You Follow Me"¹	SWI #6, UK #7, GER #8
1980	Peter Gabriel	"Games Without Frontiers"	UK #4, CAN #7
1980	Genesis	"Turn It on Again"	UK #8
1980	Peter Gabriel	"No Self Control"	UK #33
1980	Peter Gabriel	"Biko"	UK #38
1981	Genesis	"Abacab"¹	NOR #8, UK #9
1981	Genesis	"Keep It Dark"	UK #33
1982	Genesis	3×3	UK #10
1982	Malcolm McLaren and the World's Famous Supreme Team	"Buffalo Gals"¹	SWI #9, UK #9
1983	Malcolm McLaren and the Mclarenettes	"Soweto"	UK #32
1983	Malcolm McLaren and the Ebonettes	"Double Dutch"	UK #3, IRE #7, NZ #10
1984	Malcolm McLaren	"Madam Butterfly (Un bel di vedremo)"	IRE #10, UK #13
1985	Julian Lennon	"Too Late for Goodbyes"¹	IRE #5, UK #6
1985	Julian Lennon	"Say You're Wrong"	US #21
1986	Peter Gabriel	"Sledgehammer"²	IRE #3, UK #4, NLD #6, GER #7, ITA #8
1991	Julian Lennon	"Saltwater"¹	IRE #5, UK #6

1: On Atlantic Records in Canada, New Zealand and the US
2: On Geffen Records in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US

EP

Compilation / sampler albums

^[8]
Year	Album
1973	Parlour Song Book – An Evening of Victorian Gems
	Music from Free Creek
	Lay Lady Lay
	Charisma Festival
	One More Chance
	The Golden Age of Comedy
	Charisma Disturbance
1974	Charisma Keyboards
1974	The Famous Charisma Label 5th Anniversary
1975	Beyond an Empty Dream (Songs for a Modern Church)
	Charisma Records October Releases
	Charisma Records September Releases
	Beyond an Empty Dream
1976	Summit Meeting
1977	Charisma Festival '77
1979	Charisma Presentation
1980	Masterpieces
	Untitled
	The Charisma Repeat Performance
	Disco Promozionale
1981	We Are Most Amused: The Very Best of British Comedy
1981	Heat from the Street
1983	Songs for a Modern Church '83
1984	Hip Hop – The Original and Best